What better way to celebrate the Autumn season than making recipes with pumpkin and reaping the health benefits too! Pumpkin is great for eye health, delivering a 100% RDA of Vitamin A in just half a cup. It is a healthy source of fiber, and the beta-carotene and carotenoids in orange vegetables like pumpkin may help prevent cancer and keep wrinkles at bay! (A diet rich in a large variety of fruits and vegetables will keep your skin glowing and your body at it’s best). Pumpkin is a good source of Vitamin C , Vitamin E, Potassium and trace minerals. I have some of my favorite pumpkin recipes listed below. I just love Fall!

Hello! How’s your September going? My two girls have both started high school this year. I have been getting my gardens in shape and doing some Fall decorating.

Autumn is just around the corner, and this is a hearty, warming soup full of delicious nutrition! It is rib sticking healthy comfort food that you will want to make again and again this fall and winter!

This soup is pure goodness in a bowl and pretty enough to serve to and impress guests! I love the rich creaminess of the soup and the toppings that you can sink your teeth into…..my kind of soup in the Fall! The fresh parsley adds brightness to the flavor, and the cumin and coriander give the soup an earthy richness. The honey, djon and splash of apple cider vinegar add that extra zing or umami.

Roasting vegetables makes them sweeter tasting and the browning adds flavor, flavor and more flavor! I am in love with this bowl of soup, and I think you will be too. 🙂

1 Whole Roasted Chicken (I like to batch roast two chickens and use one for the soup)

3 Cups of Brussels Sprouts (halved)

3 Cups of Fennel (chopped)

2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil

1/4 Teaspoon of Sea Salt

1/4 Cup of Chopped Fresh Parsley (for topping)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400º degrees. In a large bowl, toss together the butternut, carrots and leeks with the olive oil, ground cumin, coriander, ground fennel and sea salt. Then, lay out your cubed Butternut, Carrots and Leeks on one, or two, parchment lined cookie sheets. The vegetables should be in a single layer. Roast the vegetables in your preheated oven for 40 minutes.

In a large stock pan, add the roasted vegetables and 1 quart of good quality low sodium chicken stock, the cider vinegar, honey, dijon, oregano and turmeric. Bring to a high simmer, and simmer for ten minutes. Cool slightly, then add the soup to a blender in two batches and puree, or use an immersion blender. Add the soup back to the pot. Salt to taste if needed.

While the soup base simmers, toss the Brussels sprouts and fennel with the 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt, and roast for 20 minutes in your 400º degree oven. While the vegetables are roasting, shred 3 cups of roasted chicken and warm it.

To serve:

Ladle the soup into a bowl, top generously with shredded chicken, the roasted Brussels sprouts and fennel, and sprinkle with chopped parsley.

Yum, a delicious, hot and hearty main dish soup full of nourishment and healthy comfort!

Today is the first day of Autumn, and to celebrate I am baking this Grain Free Pumpkin Spice Coffee Cake! Enjoy this cake after a beautiful afternoon of raking leaves with someone you love! Or, sit outside on a cool sweatshirt morning with a piece of this cake and a warm cup of coffee! It is pure heaven!!!

When you hear coffee cake, don’t just think of breakfast. This is a great snack cake. I have drizzled the top while it is still warm with a glaze that soaks in and makes the cake super moist! So grab your Bundt pan!

Directions: Grease a Bundt pan with organic shortening or coconut oil and set it aside. In a large bowl with a hand held mixer, blend the pumpkin, eggs, honey, and coconut oil for two minutes. In a separate bowl, whisk together the almond flour, coconut flour, spices, baking soda and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and mix with your hand held mixer until thoroughly incorporated. Add the teaspoon of apple cider vinegar and blend again for 30 seconds.

Spoon the batter into the Bundt pan and smooth the top. Sprinkle the top with your coarsely chopped pecans. Place in the preheated oven for 40 minutes to bake. The top should spring back slightly when ready. Remove the pan from the oven, and cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes. While it is cooling, prepare the glaze above.

After five minutes, turn the Bundt pan over with a wire rack on top of it to catch the cake. When it is out of the pan it will be upside down. Turn the cake right side up by using another wire rack sandwiching the cake between the two, or carefully use your hands to turn the cake right side up with the pecans on top. Drizzle the glaze onto the cake and cool.

Happy Autumn! Although it’s still hotter than average for September, there are signs of Fall outside. The pumpkins are ripening for one, and before you know it, it will be time for cozy sweatshirts and jeans, and leaf raking!

I know Autumn is just around the corner when the cicadas start screaming day and night. School started today! Waaagh! I have mixed emotions about it. We had such a nice Summer, and it seems like Summer just began.

However, I am looking forward to my favorite season and cooler days where I can throw on layers. The cool weather makes me think of different smells in the kitchen like cinnamon, nutmeg and bread baking.

Living a healthy life is more than just having everything you put into your mouth be uber healthy. It is also about balance, community, listening to your body, sharing time together over food, relaxation, spirituality, exercise, and fun! These things give us a sense of well being deep in our innermost self.

It is one of the reasons I like to blog treat recipes, like this very delicious and toastable bread that is reminiscent of my days as an artisan bread baker for my local food coop. I have made this seasonal recipe in a grain free version!

It is important if you have digestive challenges, like me, or want to improve your health in other areas, that you eat plenty of cooked and fresh vegetable produce, some fruit, good quality protein and healthy fats. I typically recommend 2/3rds of the plate consist of vegetables. Then there is a place for a piece of this grain free bread. Just don’t eat the whole loaf! Now, my daughters can eat plenty of this bread, and they absolutely love it toasted! I am happy with one thick slice toasted and savored with a cup of coffee or tea.

I purchase my pantry items such as the raisins, nuts, cashew butter, almond flour, coconut flour, baking soda and the apple cider vinegar at Thrive Market online (see link in upper right corner of this page) and saved $1,500.00 on my grocery bill last year. This is my second year as a member. They have thousands of quality food and home care items, and for every membership that is purchased, they give a free one to a needy family. They have a mission to make quality food affordable. Let’s bake bread! 🙂

Harvest Bread Ingredients

Harvest Bread (Grain Free, Tostable)

Preheat the oven to 300º degrees. Grease a medium to large sized loaf pan with organic shortening, then line it with parchment paper. I used a pan my children bought for me as a gift when I started eating gluten free. It is a Pullman loaf pan and works well for gluten free breads, but it just makes a nice shape. Any medium to large loaf pan will work! (I left of the lid for this pan.)

Ingredients:

2 1/4 Cups Superfine Almond Flour

3 Tablespoons of Coconut Flour

1 Teaspoon of Sea Salt or Himalayan Pink Salt (my favorite!)

1/2 Teaspoon of Cinnamon

1/4 Teaspoon of Nutmeg

1/4 Teaspoon of Baking Soda

Whisk together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. In a second bowl with a hand held mixer, blend together:

4 Eggs

1/4 Cup of Cashew Butter

3 Tablespoons of Honey

1 Tablespoon of Apple Cider Vinegar

After blending the eggs, cashew butter, honey and cider vinegar until well combined, add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until thoroughly incorporated. Then fold in:

1/2 Cup of Raisins

1/2 Cup of Chopped Walnuts

Pour into the prepared loaf pan. Smooth the top with a rubber spatula, and then place in the preheated oven and bake for 45 to 55 minutes until golden brown on the top and hollow sounding when you tap on the bread.

Remove from the oven. Cool for ten minutes in the pan. Then use the overhanging sides of the parchment paper to lift the loaf from the pan. Cool on a wire rack for one hour before slicing.

It is a perfect time to enjoy this mug muffin! Find the full recipe here. That is Ming, Ming snorteling in the background of this video. If you look closely in the beginning, she is in the left hand corner!

Mug muffins are scrumptious, convenient, individual and fast! Just mix and microwave for 1 minute 30 seconds and you have a warm muffin in a mug!

Since Fall is in the air, I have been craving pumpkin. I was in the kitchen this weekend creating a pumpkin flavored mug muffin with a touch of chocolate that really evokes thoughts of cooler weather, sweaters, autumn crafts and warm hugs. My youngest daughters are 12 and 14 now and like to choose and make their own breakfasts. They love mug muffins and can whip them up quickly on a school morning!

About Me

Hello! I am Sandra, and I am Mom to five, wife and now a grandmother (Mimi) of two grandsons, and a pug Mom! I started this blog as a place to record recipes I was making for myself after being diagnosed with SIBO and low thyroid. I had no idea what I was going to eat and how I would feed my hungry husband and children. I went to school for Health Coaching after I started recovering at Institute for Integrative Nutrition. I wanted to have recipes the whole family would enjoy, that were healthy, tasty and made with ingredients that promoted digestive healing and overall health. Taking real food and creating delicious recipes is something I love to do. I believe nutrient dense food gives the body the best sources to be vibrant, healthy, prevent disease, and maintain great energy as well as heal. I am excited to share with others delicious food recipes and tips!

Note:

Sam Eats Her Nutrients is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com
to offset the cost of this blog and also to help educate you about clean, healthy and useful products. All other links on my blo, I receive no compensation for.
I only recommend products that I use myself and think are fantastic!